Justin Graves

LDRS 5454: Leadership in Diverse Contexts | Dr. Eric Kaufman

Applied Learning Reflection 5: Leadership with a Higher Purpose

Part 1: What?

As I conclude synthesizing the main points of my final leadership, the piece that we jus completed on Greenleaf’s servant leadership ring especially true for this Applied Learning Reflection.  Servant leadership enacts front-line leadership.  Greenleaf’s definition is as accurate as you can get – the servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Part 2: So What?

 How does servant leadership enact itself in our everyday lives? Let’s compare it to the leadership crisis that is going on in Washington, D.C.  There is a popular idea that is consistently circulating about how there it is alarming that more than eighty percent of the issues discussed in our Nation’s Capitol – let’s use Obamacare as an example – does not apply to more than ninety percent of those making the decisions.  When you consider “who has the power?” it’s pretty alarming that there is minimal interaction on the front-lines between our nation’s leaders and the policies that they distribute.

Part 3: Now What?

My argument for this blog, as I finalize my ideas for my final leadership philosophy paper, is that we must consider how, exactly, our nation’s leaders are not quite servant leaders. Is that a potential cure to our leadership crisis? To see our politicians and policy-setters on the front lines, forced to be served by some of the same programs they create and distribute?  Many argue that this is a large reason that we have a leadership crisis in our country.  To harken back to the beginnings of our course, a leadership crisis is plainly evident in today’s culture, especially in the United States.  I truly believe a way to begin to circumvent that crisis is to have more servant leaders in as many arenas as possible.